There are many requirements for a high switching speed in MIS field effect transistors, and for this reason, the industry has endeavored to keep the channel length between the source zone and drain zone very small. One effort to accomplish this result is the "VMOS TRANSISTOR" ("Electronic Design", Vol. 21, Oct. 11, 1975, Circle No. 307). Another example is the "double diffused" MIS field effect transistor. In the double diffused MIS field effect transistor, a short channel is produced in that dopant of a first conductivity type is diffused into the semiconductor body through a mask opening. As a result of under-diffusion, the doping material in the semiconductor body also laterally extends beyond the boundaries of the mask openings. Then, in a second doping step, doping material of the second conductivity type is diffused through the same mask opening. By virtue of the selection of the diffusion temperature and the diffusion time, in this second process step it is ensured that the lateral diffusion under the edge of the mask is less than for the doping material which was diffused in during the first process step. The two doped zones meet the substrate surface at different points. That part of the semiconductor substrate lying between these points represents the channel. Channel lengths of down to approximately 1.5 .mu.m can be achieved with this process. With this double diffusion process, it is not possible to achieve shorter channel lengths with adequate reproducibility, as when dopant is introduced by means of diffusion, the doping profile continuously widens so that this in itself imposes a lower limit on the attainable channel length. Furthermore, the diffusion is heavily temperature-dependent so that even slight temperature changes exert a disadvantageous influence upon the reproducibility of this process.